Slate-surfacing machine and process



May 8, 1928.

' c. L. KELLER SLATE SUREACING MACHINE AND PROCESS Filed Nov. 30, 1923 Patented May 8, l'

UNITED STATES E .W p

- `CHABIJES L. KELLER/01' CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGmNTB, TO THE FLINTKOTE COMPANY, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 0l' MASSACHUSETTS.

suma-sumacmeuacnmr: am) raocass.

Applicationlled November 80, 1923. 'Serial Io. 677,643.v

My invention relates to processes andimachines for surfacing shingles with slatesl of lditlerent colors in such a way as to give an' elfect when laid on the roof of irregular 5 coloring without pattern.

One of the defects of variegated fs in the e e in a suliiciently subduedmanner, to

be p easing asI a roof. One of the A objects of my invention is to avoid this by placing wa lines of di'erent colored slate on the roo g, thereby providing` a 'sheet fromY which individual shingles can be cut, none of which have the same pattern, and in which when laid, 4the roof will not present any tendency toward deinite pattern.A It is also vmy object to provide for inters aced lines of wavy nature 'on the roong, mtermediate which the 'colors are formed from a mixturel of the several colors at each side thereof.

Another object'of my invention is to utilize that lprocessin the production of the ich'fa'cilitates to the greatest extent the production'of the type desired with the minimum of mechanism, and expense, and to this end it has4 been my object to design a .mechanism whereby the mixture vof colors lying between the lines of definite color, may be provided with a minimum of labor and machine expense. v

The above objects and advantages I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more specifically pointed out and claimed.'

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective detail partially diagrammatic of the machine employed'by me. y

Fi re 2 is a dia m showing the operationgoqr'the processgrznd the nature of the resultant shingles. 4.

Referring first to the machine, which exf emplies my process, itwillbe notedthat I show "a sheet 1 of prepared roofing felt,

which it will be understood travels continuously through the machine. This sheet is surfaced with a bituminous coating,A prior to passing through the machine. Ishow a fixed hopper 2 formed of a series'of compartments 3 into which compartments, slate granules or other colored mineral matter is continuously supplied from the Stora bins. Each compartment will ordinarily e supplied with a differentU color from the one next to it, the number of colors being regulated by the number of color tones desired in the final product.

The compartments 3 have outlet orifices or ports 4, which, as shown, are preferably of confined width as compared to the widt v of the compartments.

able hopper, 5 formed of a series of comartments 6, having relatively narrow ports as compared with the width of the ho per l5, but long enough in the direct-ion o its the sheet of roofing. The limit of movement will be such, ordinarily, that the compart- Beneath the fixed compartments is a mov-I ment beneath each port of the fixed, hopper will never move out of range of the granules droppin continuously from such port.

The movale hopper may be moved by hand, although I show a mechanism for accomplishin the movement in the shape of a driven sha 10, having a drum 11 t ereon, which drum has a wave line slot 12 therein. The hopper has a finger. 13 which engages in said slot, so that as the finger follows the slot, the hopperwill be moved to and fro on its supporting rods. Y

It should be noted that space'is' left between the orts in the respective compartments of t e movable ho per, .so that the outlinen along the sheet of material, wit uncovered spaces -of like outline between them.` In the diagram (Figure 2) these wavy lines of colored partlcles, (shaded for green and brown respectively, as an illustration) are shown at 14 and 15, with .intermediate spaces 16. It will also be noted that if one could scrape away the granules along a se lected zone lengthwise of the sheet at any point, that both colors of slate would be accumulated. The width of the lines of colors and of intervening spaces will naturally be regulated by the desire -for given effects in the lresultant product.

I utilize the fact of the lengthwise overlapping of the color zones on the partially covered sheet in my process and machine. Thus I preferably regulate the progress of the sheet and the size of the several ports so that an excess of granules is dropped onto the sheet beneath the hopper 5. I then pass the sheet around a roll 17, and then back again over a roll 18, the roll 17 acting to press down the granules against the coating on the sheet.

As an excess is dropped on the sheet a large quantity of granules will drop off of the roofing sheet over the back of the roll -17. I place a hopper 19-where it will catch this excess of granules, and provide this hopper with a long slot or port therein, entirely across the sheet.

The wavy lines of excess covered nature thus deposit in t-he hopper 19, a mixture of colors of granules and these granules are sprinkled onto the sheet of material before it passes 4under the roll 17. This excess hopper device is also of value in covering with a solid color in regular practice'.

All of the uncoveredareas, resulting from the first wavy line sprinkling are thus covered over with a slate which consists of a mixture of the granules deposited from the wavy lines at each side of the lines of solid color, and furthermore this mixute of colors is deposited all over the sheetl and some of it will remain on the solid colored areas, t0ning them down so as to result in a sheet in which sharp dei'initions between color zones are not apparent, and in which unpleasantly striking effects are avoided.

In cutting up the resultant sheet, dependent u on the width of the color zones, and the width of the sheet, the final shingles will be of diiferent nature. There will not be any regularity of color outline, however, and no general-tendency of stripes exhibited in the final roof.` Theillustrated cut by the dotted lines 2O of Figure 2, shows one form of possible subdivision.

Where the desire is for relatively narrow bands of color and wide bands of mixed color, it ma `Jbe necessary to supplement action described in order to zones. This can be done by shoveling or feedin into the hopper 19, a suiicient quant1ty o granules formed from a mixture of the several colors used in the first two hoppers. hoppers for deposit of primary colors could e in two or more units or the streams could "be crosswise instead of lengthwise of the sheet.

Having thus described my invention,

So far as process is concerned, the' what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is c 1. A method of making mineral covered prepared roofing, which consists in feeding a mastic coated sheet beneath a series of interspaced streams of differently colored mineral granules, and subsequentlyvfeeding the sheet beneath a stream of a mixture of said granules.

2. A method of. making mineral covered prepared roofing. which consists in feeding a mastic coated sheet beneath a series of interspaced oscillating streams of differently colored mineral granules, and subsequently feeding the sheet beneath a stream of a mixture of said granule.

3. A method vof making minerall covered prepared roofing, which consists in feeding a mastic coated sheet beneath a series ofinterspaced oscillating streams of dii'ferently,

colored mineral granules, then inverting the sheet while feeding it, andv imposing the excess deposited bythe above noted streams back again on the sheet to cover the areas intermediate the said streams.

4. A method of making mineral covered prepared roong, which consists in feeding a mastic coated sheet beneath a series of interspaced oscillating streams of differently colored mineral granules, and subsequently feeding the sheet beneath a stream of a mixture of said granules, and then dividing the sheet crosswise and lengthwise into a series of roong units.

5. A machine for making mineral covered prepared roofing, which` com rises a compartment hopper continuousy pouring a. series of streams of relatively different colored mineral granules toward a continuously moving mastic coated sheet, another compartment hopper between said streams and the sheet, said second hopper being movable to catch the streams 'and deposit them in interspaced wavy lines 'upon the sheet, and additional means for subsequently covering the interlying spaces with a mixture ofthe differently colored granules.

6. In a machine for the purposes described, means for selectively feedin in interspaced streams excess quantities o? differently colored granules onto a moving web, means for removing said excess, and means for refeeding said excess onto said movingl web. l.

7. A machine forsthe purpose described, comprising a hbpper into which is to be poured a4 series of streams of differently colored mineral granules, formed with compartments'onefor each color, ports in said hoppers to -de osit the streams upon a traveling web o roofing material,y said hopper being movably said hopper being mounted s0 as to be oscillated crosswise'of ing said hopper adapted to time the movethe sheet, and mechanicalmeans for oscillatment of the hopper so as to produce a wavy line on'the travelling web. v

8. A machine for the vpurpose described, comprising a hopper into which is to be poured a series of streams of .differently colored `mineral granules, said hopper being formed with compartments one-,for each color,ports in said hoppers to deposit the streams upon 'a traveling web of rooiingi upon inversion and located over the noninverted portion of the sheet so as to redeposit the granules u on the sheet. I

9. A machine for t e purpose described,

,comprising a hopper located so as to deposit a mineral granular substance upon a moving sheet of prepared rooing material, a pair of rolls, the lower in advance of the upper, over which the said sheet moves after assing the said hopper, and an additional yopper located beneath the upper roll and over the roofing sheet behind the lower roll. to

catch excess granules falling from the inverted sheet and re-deposit them upon the said sheet prior to its contact with the said lower roll.

` CHARLES L. KELLER. 

